Hi all,

Another lovely spring week. Keep your eyes on the sky this Saturday: around 6 pm there will be a solar eclipse. Make sure you have filtered glasses if watching it so you don’t hurt your eyes.

Other interesting news/info:

  • Thanks to all your efforts in completing Independent Study, we earned an extra $18,000 this year in state funding – way to go!

  • TTUSD school calendars are out for the next two years. You can access them at: www.ttusd.org Our start day is the same, Aug 29, but we will end on Friday, June 14, 2013.

  • Sorry this is a little late. Today, Tuesday, we hosted John LeCavalier and Deborah Pinto from Expeditionary Learning. They toured classrooms, spoke with staff, and conducted our yearly Implementation Review (an assessment of our program). While results won’t be in for another month, they both mentioned how high performing our expeditions are and how impressed they are with our overall program, particularly for only being in our second year. Kudos to ALL of our community for building a great school.

  • Still STAR testing this week (Wed and Thurs, some make up on Friday), so please have your students ready to go and on time.

  • Later this week or early next week I will be sending home enrollment forms for new sibling students. Please look for them, fill them out and have them returned by the first week of June.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The McMains Crew, aka Blue Bear Productions, is proud to invite our entire SELS family and the Tahoe Truckee community to share in the public premiere of our film Geology of California: 4,500,000,000 years in the making.  The photography, scripts, interview questions, artwork, graphics, and editing were done by the twenty-four sixth grade students of Sierra Expeditionary Learning School in Truckee, California. The film is an extraordinary and visually stunning look at the forces that shape our state.

  • Please join us Wednesday evening, May 30th at The Resort at Squaw Creek, Alpine Room A-B.

  • Doors open at 6:30.

  • Show time: 7:00-7:30 followed by a student panel Q&A session

The Resort at Squaw Creek is also generously offering a 10% discount on food at Sandy’s Pub for those who would like to enjoy a meal prior to the film! Copies of the DVD will be available for sale. Proceeds from film sales will help fund future expeditions. Please contact Reenie McMains at Sierra Expeditionary Learning School for additional information. rmcmains@truckeecharterschool.org

PTC:

  • the PTC has re’cd approx. $2500 from eScrip (Safeway) and Savemart Shares since the school opened.  We want to encourage everyone to make sure they are signed up for eScrip and have a Shares card and they should use it each time they shop at one of these stores, anywhere, even nationally.

  • Library Makeover: Greetings SELS Families! We want to inform you of a wonderful opportunity for parents to help improve SELS facilities. The Library needs our love and attention! We are looking for people to join our new Library Committee. This committee will have a direct impact on the school, as a great library is an integral part of any learning institution.

Goals:

  • Increase literacy efforts

  • Log all books into an electronic system that will grow with us

  • Create a study atmosphere that encourages reading as well as the many other uses this multipurpose room serves

  • Create a fantastic looking space that gives visitors an accurate first impression of SELS

  • Establish student volunteer group that helps maintain the library

  • Coordinate with staff to order books needed for expeditions.

With both literacy and remodel efforts to focus on, we need a variety of people on this team. Up until this point, the library has been 100% donated but we now have some grant and Measure A money to spend wisely to achieve the library goals. Please join us for a brainstorming and job assignment meeting on Wednesday, May 16th at 5pm. The plan is to assign jobs, order furniture, and get started on this much needed Library Makeover!  If you cannot attend, but have ideas and/or can help, please email Stacey Carr carrsick@davesick.net

Thank you for your support & involvement…together we can make a difference in our school!

Important Dates:

  • Wed, May 30, premier of McMains Crew documentary (see above)

  • Thurs, May 31, Board Meeting 6 pm, M-4 (this date has been changed from its normal time due to a scheduling conflict

  • Thurs, June 7, Celebration of Learning and BBQ, 5:30-7:30 pm

  • Thurs, June 14, Passages Ceremony, 12-3 pm

  • Friday, June 15, last day of school